Washing-tool.



F. E. YOUNGS.

WASHING TOOL.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 8, 1914.

Patented May 9, 1916.

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fiTTORHEY WlTHESjE E's war serene FRED E. YOUNGS, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JOHN W. HUBBARD, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

WASHING-TOOL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 9, 1916.

Application filed October 8, i914. Serial No, 865,634.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRED E. YOUNGS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Detroit, county of lVayne,.State of Michigan, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in lVashingTools, and declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to a tool for. washing clothes or other articles.

It consists of a diaphragm pump designed to force water through the. clothes on the down stroke and by creating a vacuum on the up-stroke to draw the water back through the clothes.

Diaphragm pumps have heretofore been used and in fact diaphragm pumps have been used for washing clothes, but they have been designed so as to deliver a working stroke (so to speak) only upon every second stroke.

My apparatus is wholly valveless and is designed to trap part of the clothes under it in the washing receptacle and require water to be forced through the clothes to escape on the down stroke and to be drawn back through the clothes to fill the vacuum created on the upstroke.

The working of the diaphragm is made easy by the use of either a double or a single arm lever.

These features will more particularly appear in the description herein following.

In the drawings,-Figure l, is a view of the washing apparatus or tool, the lower portion being a longitudinal section, the upper section being an elevation. Fig. 2, is a fragmentary top view. Fig. 3, is a bottom view of the lever. Fig. 4, is a detailof the ring-expander.

The body of the tool is a shell (0, the upper half of which is conical and the lower half of which is cylindrical. Inwardly set corrugations b, 7) strengthen the cylinder and also serve to locate the expansible ring a. The ring a is made up of a strip having its meeting ends, (Z, d V-shaped and ofiset inwardly, and a nut e, a screw f, and a follower it. The nut and follower are each provided with beveled recesses so that the of the ring.

turning of the screw causes the nut and follower to approach each other and the ring ends to be pushed away from each other, thus expanding or increasing the diameter This expansible ring tightly pinches the flexible diaphragm 9' into the casing between the corrugations 7), b.

The diaphragm is made of air and waterproof material. At the center of the diaphragm a pair of plates j, one on either side, engage the diaphragm and all are connected with the rod 76 by means of the screw Z which passes through holes in the two plates and the diaphragm and into the wood of the .rod end. The plates j are turned up at the circumferences to strengthen them which also serves in the under plate to hold the upper coil of the spiral spring m. The spiralspring m serves to assist in lifting or to lift the diaphragm and the plunger on the up-stroke, for the up-stroke is much more inconvenient and harder to take than the down-stroke,- which may be assisted by the weight of the operators body. The bottom of the spring at sets upon the grid n. This grid, which is a restraining member provided with interstices, prevents the clothes from being drawn into what may be termed the operating chamber of the diaphragm. If the clothes could follow the diaphragm upward, then very little water would be drawnthrough them to fill the vacuum. The clothes themselves would rush in together with the surrounding water. The expansible ring serves not only the purpose of giving the diaphragm an air tight fit to the shell but it also acts as a carrier for the grid, the wires of which may be soldered or otherwise fastened to the ring.

The tube 0 is passed through the opening at the apex of the conical upper half of the shell and is prevented from further passing into the shell by the head 79. It is also prevented from being drawn out of the shell by the brace member 9. This brace member is a dished or conical plate perforated at the center and turned up about the central opening through which the flared end r of the tube opasses, firmly holding the plate in position. The outer edge of the brace member is turned down, as shown in the drawing in Fig. 1, to engage with the corrugation s in the conical upper half of the shell. The ferrule 25 prevents the splitting of the outer end of the wooden plunger rod 70 and also serves as a stop by reason of its outer end being provided with an annular, outwardlyextending flange which carries a washer u of felt or other softmaterial. This washer acts as a buffer when the movable parts strike the lowerend of the tube 0. It will be seen that the lower end of the tube requires considerable strength by reason of taking the impacts of the movable parts and hence some sort of a reinforced structure such as the dished plate 9 is quite desirable. The tube 0 serves merely as a sheath for the plunger rod 76 and also as a connection between the shell and the supporting arms upon which the lever 10 is pivoted. The ends of these supporting arms '0 fasten into the slots 60 in the underside of the lever to. Consequently the hand can be held near the point of pivoting without any danger of its being pinched betw en the lever and the supporting arms. The lever shown in the drawing is a double lever arm, that is there is an' arm upon each side of the fulcrum. This is not necessary but is quite desirable as it allows the working of the lever with 7 both hands. The plunger rod 76 is pivoted to the lever to by passing through an openmg y 111 the lever and by reason of a pm 2 which passes through the plunger rod and through the adjacent walls of the lever about this opening y. Thepoint of pivoting is substantially directly above the upper opening of the tube. The upper end of the plunger rod is provided with a handle 1 by which alone the plunger rod may be operated if desired, but the chief use of which is for lifting and shifting the washer about from place to place on the clothes.

What I claim is:

1. A washing tool, having in combination, a shell provided with an open lower end, a flexible diaphragm at all times air-tight and stretching across the shell, an expansible ring for forcing the diaphragm into airtight relation with respect to the shell, a grid carried by the expansible ring and stretched across the shell near its lower end,

said grid being spaced from the diaphragm to prevent the clothes from being drawn into the operating chamber of the diaphragm,

and means for forcing the diaphragm down and drawing it up.

2. A washing tool, comprising a conical shell, a tube projecting upwardly therefrom, a conical reinforcing plate secured to the inside of the shell near the apex of the cone, said tube projecting down into the shell and secured to the center of the conical reinforcing plate, a diaphragm secured to the inside of'the shell, a rod secured to the center of the diaphragm and capable of reciprocation in the tube, and means on the end of the rod adjacent the diaphragm for engaging with the end of the tube and the reinforcing plate to act as a stop.

8. A washing tool, having in combination,

a conical shell, a reinforcing plate to form an inverted cone secured to the mterior of the shell near the apex thereof, a tube rising upwardly from the apex of the shell and having its lower end projecting down to and connecting with the inverted reinforcing plate at its center, a diaphragm secured to the inner side of the shell, a rod capable of reciprocating in the tube and secured at its end to the diaphragm, a thimble on the end of the rod, and a felt washer engaging the end of the thimble, the latter of which is flared out to form a stop with the reinforcing plate.

' 4. A Washing tool, having in combination, a conical shell, a tube rising from the apex of the shell, a rod capable of reciprocation in the tube, a diaphragm secured to the inside of the shell, a pair of circular plates with up-turned edges, the said plates being located one on each side of the diaphragm, means for securing thetwo plates and the diaphragm pinched between the two plates to the ,end of the rod, a grating secured to V the inside of the shell below the diaphragm, and a spring held between the grating and the lower plate and centered by the said turned-up edge of the lower plate.

In testimony whereof, I sign this specifi- Witnesses:

STUART C. BARNns, EDNA M. BARNES.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of lPatent s.

' 7 Washington, D. C. 

